May
15, 2006
Nicholas had a good pc visit and echo. Everything is unchanged.
His doctor still wants to see him in 6 months. I found out more
about a tendon that is causing him problems. It is called a chordai
and it attaches from his mitral valve to the wall of the septum.
Nick’s goes across below the aortic valve, I believe, and
it causes turbulence. It is called an outflow tract obstruction.
I’d known he had something but this is the first time the
doctor called it the outflow tract obstruction. It is doing ok
right now.
May
8, 2006
Please
remember Nicholas on Wednesday as he goes for his PC visit and
echo. I feel like he’s doing well but I will feel better
after we get it over with. Also, please pray for the new support
group in Houston. It is called It’s My Heart and we are
having a get-together and fundraiser on the 20th. The group wants
to make comfort bags to take to heart children at Texas Children’s
Hospital. Because Houston is a little over 50 miles away, I don’t
get to do all that I’d like to with the group but I am very
excited about the work that the officers are doing to get this
group going.
Sending
you some heart (((hugs))) and good wishes,
Cheri
November
10
Nicholas
had a cardiology visit and echo on the 1st. His doctor is pleased
with how he’s doing. She’s going to reduce his dosage
of blood pressure medicine so that he takes it twice a day instead
of three times. He does have something else that they are now
watching. I am not exactly sure what it is but it is some cords
or tendons that secure the mitral valve. They may be called chordae
tendineae. She said there is more turbulence there now. There
is some kind of measurement she told us but I am not sure if it
is describing the turbulence or the size of the cords. In either
case, his number is higher. It was slightly increased last time
too. She said the lower dosage of his enalapril may have a positive
effect on the new problem. He is going for another echo on the
16th to see if he is tolerating the new dosage. Overall, she is
pleased with how well he is doing.
September
12, 2005
Dear
Pastor David,
My
daughter called Texas Children’s to make an appointment
for Nick’s 6 month check-up. They only had one appointment
left for November and it is November 1st. I always complain about
the waiting time for appointments and now I am caught off guard
because we are getting in so quickly. Even so, I am thankful that
we won’t have as long to “worry” beforehand.
Please keep Nicholas in your prayers for a good appointment.
Cheri
May
11, 2005
Nicholas
had a good visit today at his cardiologist. His echo was good
and she is very pleased at how well he is doing. He still has
mild to moderate mitral valve leakage but it hasn't changed in
severity. She increased his dosage of Enalapril because he has
grown so much. He will go back again in 6 months.
Nicholas
goes to Texas Children's on the 11th May for a PC visit, echo,
etc. Please pray that his valve leakage has not worsened.
Hi
Pastor David,
I thought I'd let you know that Nick had an episode on Wednesday.
We are not sure what happened except that after he got to school,
his heart was hurting. The teacher sent him to the office and
he called me. I questioned him about what it felt like and I
got his mother on a three-way-call with us. We decided that
my husband would go pick Nick up and Deena would call the doctor.
The doctor told her to take Nicholas to the nearest fire station
or ems (emergency) station and have them do a rhythm strip.
Then we were supposed to go to her office in Houston. Our friend
is the chief of the EMS here and he ran the strip. He didn't
see anything out of the ordinary and he questioned Nick to make
sure it was ok to go on to Houston. The cardiologist checked
Nick out and they ran an EKG. It looked ok. After she talked
to him, she didn't think it was his heart but that it might
be an ulcer or reflex. To be safe, she put on a 24 hour holter
monitor on him and also gave him an event recorder.
When Nick came home from school the next day, it was time for
the holter monitor to be taken off. They had the leads taped
down and as he started to pull the tape off, he said that it
felt like his heart was doing the same thing again. He had several
pains and the way he described it was that it would beat very
fast and then go "bam". I felt his heart and it felt
like it was pounding. It should be recorded on the holter but
it will take awhile for them to get the results back to the
doctor since we had to take it back to Houston.
.......Anyway, please keep Nicholas in your prayers.
Your heart friend,
Cheri
Update
on November 3, 2004
Nicholas
had a very good echo and pc visit. His heart is looking better
than his doctor has seen it. She is taking him off his digoxin
but is keeping him on enalapril 3 times a day. He goes back
in 6 months. The pc also checked out baby Kyle and his heart
sounds perfect to her. She also checked all his pulses and they
were good. All in all, it was a great day! God is good.........Cheri
Nicholas
went for his echo last week and saw his pediatric cardiologist
today. She is pleased with how he is doing and the mitral valve
leakage has not changed. His heart size is also good. She wants
to do a holter monitor and also a treadmill test but said there
is no rush to get these done. He will continue on his medications.
I can't tell you how fortunate we are to have a pc who takes
so much time with us, answers all our questions, and cares so
much for Nicholas. We appreciate her so much. Also, thank you
all for your prayers because they work!.......Cheri
Dear
Pastor David,
Nicholas will be going to Texas Children's Hospital on April
1 to have an echo. He will meet with his cardiologist on April
6. Please remember him in your prayers. We are hoping his heart
has continued to stay as is and that there is no increase in
the mitral valve leakage and enlargement.
Thank you,
Cheri Roe
Nicholas had his pc visit yesterday and it was pretty good.
He had to see a different doctor because his doctor had surgery
last week. We were more anxious I think, because we wanted to
know immediately when the doctor came in whether the news was
good or bad. The new doctor asked about Nicholas' meds and said
they were a hefty dosage. The mitral valve leakage is moderate
and the ventricle looks like it has reduced. One good thing
is that the doctor let us go down with him to view the results
of Nicholas' chest x-ray and when we went in, the picture was
up on their viewer. As we walked in, the doctor said, "
Well that's a normal sized heart right there. Let's see if it
is Nicholas'. " I was very excited to see Nicholas Mathews
on the film. We will go back in six months. The doctor said
we have to keep a close watch on things because things can change
quickly and cause problems. He said he would not recommend doing
any corrections at this time and to just continue with the enalapril
and digoxin he is taking. God is so good.
Cheri
13th
October 2003
Nicholas had his echo but we don't see his pc until
the 22nd. I'll let you know what we find out. Nicholas sang
with his Sunday School class yesterday during church. They
sang, "Give me that old time religion." He also
said that he made 100 on his scripture verses he memorized
for school. He goes to Brazosport Christian School. They had
to know John 3:14-19.
Your heart friend,
Cheri
Dear
Pastor David,
It is getting that time again - Nicholas goes to Texas Children's
on Oct. 8 for his echo. He will not see his pediatrician until
the 22nd. Please keep him in your prayers. Also, my husband's
elderly aunt, JoVera Enman, has been sent to Methodist Hospital
in Houston and will probably be receiving a pacemaker. They
thought she had a heart attack but now they think that what
happened, is that her heart is slowing down way too much.
Thank you,
Cheri
19th June
Nicholas is doing great right now. He graduated from Kindergarten
in May. He goes to a private Christian school and we are so
lucky to have such a good school in our area. He received
an award for courage at graduation but the teacher wasn't
connecting it to his heart battles. She connected it to his
willingness to stand up for what's right and admit when he
did something wrong. Today, at swimming lessons, I was reminded
of this again. His swimming teacher asked him if he had his
turn yet on one of the swimming styles they were working on.
Nicholas said, "Yes I did but I didn't do it right."
The coach commended him for his honesty and then let him go
again.
28th March
Nicholas had his pc visit yesterday. She is absolutely thrilled
with his heart right now. She kept repeating this to us. She
was a little concerned because he's been tired and she said
that his medicine(blood pressure medicine) could cause this
but she is hesitant to change anything since he's doing so well.
We
talked about the cold he has now and mentioned that since he
had a sinus infection a few weeks back, he's never fully recovered.
We had a call in to our pediatrician to see if Nicholas could
come in. The pc asked if they had an x-ray machine at the pediatrician's
office. They don't. The pc said since Nicholas was having his
chest x-ray, she'd like to go ahead and take x-rays of his sinuses
and have them faxed to the peds. He did have a bad infection
and now is on antibiotics for three weeks to try to wipe it
out.
I
really like our pediatric cardiologist. We feel very confident
with her and she is very concerned about Nicholas. She said
she was ecstatic when she got his echo results. His x-ray looked
good too. He has lost some weight but I am sure that the sinus
infection is a big contributor to that.
The
prayers of so many people were answered and I thank all who
prayed for Nicholas. I have no doubt that we were blessed because
of these prayers that were answered by an all-knowing, all-loving
God.
Your friend,
